2008-09-16

The above image shows the path of David -- a category 5 hurricane that traveled the length of the east coast in 1979.

It's the first hurricane I remember being aware of. New York would often get the remnants of storms, but this one was different. In the days leading up to the storm, the new casters were advising everyone to take precautions. We put giant masking tape Xs on our windows because that would allegedly keep them from breaking in the storm. The city was filled with Xs on glass. We were warned about tornadoes in Manhattan. School was canceled for the day of the storm.

By the time the storm reached New York City, it had weakened considerably. I recall a lot of rain and wind, but no major damage in the area. It was barely a tropical storm.

The Caribbean did not do as well. David is blamed for more than 2,000 deaths there.

I bring this up because I just found Stormpulse. It's a fascinating site with huge amounts of data and easy to read map. It includes hurricanes and tropical storms going back to the 1850s. You can look up the storm track and stats for any hurricane in that time. It shows the position, time, and wind speed throughout the lenght of the storm.

You can even look at all the storms from a particular season. Here is the 2007 map: